


Review of Merlin's Final Episodes

by yourlibrarian



Series: Reviews [12]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Episode Review, Episode: s05e12-13 The Diamond of the Day, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 12:18:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6704323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So the finale came to its inevitable conclusion in much the way the series made its way throughout all its seasons. Some stuff was really enjoyable, a lot was inexplicable, and it was largely underdeveloped.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Review of Merlin's Final Episodes

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted June 3, 2013

So the finale came to its inevitable conclusion in much the way the series made its way throughout all its seasons. Some stuff was really enjoyable, a lot was inexplicable, and it was largely underdeveloped. 

I found myself making note of Merlin clichés I’ve become sadly familiar with such as: 

People sneaking past a sleeping Gaius;  
People telling people things they don’t need to know;  
People not telling people things they DO need to know;  
People not making sure someone else is dead when they have the chance;  
Everything is apparently a 2 day ride away from everywhere else, but nonetheless people leaving later arrive quicker than people leaving earlier;  
Gaius telling Merlin that some creature/thing was thought to be extinct but clearly isn’t.

So, a mix of the good and the dumb:

1) The dice game. Arthur telling Merlin to enjoy his victory while it lasts is particularly poignant on a rewatch. Given that this scene has no reason to exist other than for emotional character bonding, it was a nice way to kick things off.

While I very much doubt anything more was meant by this scene, I thought it was an interesting summation of Merlin and Arthur's whole paths. Even though both are close, they are nonetheless at odds with one another through numerous events in the series. They each keep making moves, gambling that things will turn out alright in the end. Arthur is arrogantly confident and Merlin cheats to compensate. 

Merlin was never content to let things be -- he was always sure that he needed to do something to assure an outcome, instead of leaving things up to fate. In the end it was his own tampering that brought about the outcome he most feared -- and Arthur lost everything.

2) The magic eating creature was certainly an unexpected twist to explain why Merlin would be sidelined during Camlann. This makes more sense in concept than execution though. How would this creature stay alive all this time without feeding, especially since magic users would want to keep their distance? You’d also think that such creatures would have been _bred_ since the Great Purge if the point was to extinguish magic.

3) Given the number of men in this show, it may not be that surprising that we see Eira becoming the last woman in the series to be a betrayer/antagonist. But it’s disappointing to think of their track record from beginning to end. It’s also an awkward shoehorn to have Gwaine so devoted to her for no clear reason.

4) When Arthur’s making his battle plans, one has to question why he’s asking Percival landscape details since you’d think Arthur would know the area as well as anyone. But I guess someone else had to have some lines.

5) What would Merlin have done if Arthur had ordered him to go to battle with him? I mean, during the whole series it was a big question why Merlin was always by Arthur's side anyway. That whole scene was the two of them talking in code. When the magic reveal came at the end, I’d half expected Arthur to say he’d known all along.

6) I did like that it was Gwaine who escorted Merlin to the crystal cave. There hasn’t been much evidence this season of the special devotion Gwaine has to Merlin in fanfic, and it was sad that Merlin didn’t reveal himself to Gwaine even at their last meeting. But at least there was the acknowledgment and the goodbye. My favorite bit though was Merlin calling out in fear to Gwaine -– his most vulnerable moment in the whole series in many ways. Yet Gwaine thought nothing of it which was a nice touch.

7) At least the writers gave Gwen what scenes they could, the best being the ones where she reassures Arthur about his battle choice, and where she guesses Merlin’s secret at last. I like that it occurred to her because she knew how devoted Merlin was to Arthur.

8) It was interesting to see how Merlin’s entombment in the cave and his speaking to Arthur in his dreams the night before Camlann played out. Though really, why Morgana would fail to ensure he died instead of leaving him in a place where he wanted to be is just an eye roller –- as is the moment where she turns her back on him later to instead speechify to Arthur. 

9) I guess she was just returning the favor for his not killing her at Camlann when he had the chance. I was figuring that the whole reason Mordred would get the opportunity to kill Arthur was because Merlin was too distracted by fighting Morgana. Yet the way things played out, there’s no clear explanation of why Merlin wasn’t tracking Arthur closely enough to prevent Mordred’s attack. 

10) Balinor’s return made sense given the story we’ve been told. His direction to move toward the light and Merlin bursting out of the cave seemed to indicate Merlin’s rebirth into his new life. He and Arthur had a last gasp together of his old one, but the eternal one has begun.

I do wonder though where Merlin's horse came from. Maybe the area bandits decided to leave it alone all that time.

11) So let me get this straight: Merlin has unimaginable power and yet he’s incapable of easily transporting Arthur to Avalon without sticking him on a horse for days? Why does he wait that long to call Kilgharrah? Why doesn’t he have Kilgharrah take them both straight to the island instead of having to magic up a boat for Arthur’s corpse? For that matter, why is he incapable of treating Arthur for a magical wound, why does he need to rely on Gaius for that? There’s no sticklewort? Why doesn’t he just make it grow from the ground? Why does he bother trying to fool the Saxons instead of just killing them? What, do his powers only work under the full moon?

12) Two other things: how do they suddenly realize it was Eira that betrayed them? And how is it that Gaius is supposed to make his way alone through woods “crawling with Saxons” to get back to Camelot safely?

13) The whole trip to Avalon was apparently meant as a way to give us 20 minutes of Merlin declaring his love for Arthur, and Arthur telling him to shut up and let him die in his arms. There’s no bad to that, but the power of it was lost for me. There have been so many countless explorations all these years of the magic reveal in fanfic, that pretty much everything that passes between them was anticipated by one or more people. Arthur being incredulous, fearful, angry, confused, realizing the dilemma, accepting, apologizing, thanking; Arthur telling Merlin to just light the fire with magic; Merlin first demonstrating his magic through the creation of Arthur’s coat of arms -- it’s all been done (and often rather better). 

That's one of the problems with TV shows that center on destiny, especially the avoiding of one. They have a tendency to be one-note, never deviating too much, yet always repeating the refrain, so that by the time the show gets there the audience is heartily sick of the constant delays. Plus, the expectations for how it plays out are ratcheted pretty high because everyone's had plenty of time to imagine how it happens. 

The only way that it could really work well is both that the destiny is not what everyone was expecting, plus it happens much earlier than people expect, and so the rest of the series ends up being about something (or many somethings) else. For example, this series would have been much more interesting if Arthur had taken the throne in S3, we had seen Camelot develop is S4, and by S5 Arthur and perhaps others would be in on Merlin's secret, so that new ground was being broken. The Arthurian legend has managed to retain its storytelling power through centuries without the "magic must be secret" angle so I'm fairly sure there could still have been interesting stories told past that.

For example, we never truly see Arthur and Merlin working together, especially on anything that develops Camelot. Early in the episode, Merlin tells Gaius that he knows Arthur better than he knows himself. That may or may not be true, but it certainly isn't true in reverse. Arthur never gets to know the real Merlin until the very end, and I'd argue, still doesn't then. He doesn't know not only what Merlin did to help him, but also the ways in which Merlin's decisions hindered them and even hurt Arthur personally. Merlin hints at this when he tells Morgana that he blames himself for what she became -- but he's responsible for a lot of things that came to bite Arthur's plans (such as birthing Aithusa). 

I think the series could have been much stronger and more interesting if we had a season of watching Arthur and Merlin trying to work together side by side, with various other characters also in the know. It would have been both interesting character exploration and potentially full of tension, because there's no reason to think that it would go smoothly.

14) That scene where Guenevere is left alone in the meeting room full of light which then shifts to the crow arriving in Morgana’s dark, sallow room was a nice contrast.

15) Nothing like telling the prisoner what your plan is, just in case they might escape from the most insecure dungeon in the land…

16) Gwaine’s death seemed pretty pointless. There was no indication that anyone else tortured with the nathair had died before, but I guess the body count needed to be raised?

17) So we finally got an explanation for why Morgana hadn’t been killed when Mordred stabbed her in 5.02. I’d assumed it was because Aithusa healed her but I guess not. Of course, why Arthur would still be alive makes no sense either…

18) Percival’s escape made me laugh. Hulk ANGRY! Hulk SMASH!

19) What’s with the masculine hand coming out of the lake? Where’s the Lady? I’m going to assume it was symbolic of Arthur’s rebirth, just as Merlin’s emergence from the cave was his -- the idea being that Arthur's spirit was already in the lake now that he was dead, and his body was simply being sent on to join it. 

20) You’d have thought Merlin would remove Arthur’s armor to make him easier to carry, and for him to ride. It would probably also have made that scene easier to shoot for Bradley James, when he finally dies looking into Merlin’s eyes (and where he forgets he said “thank you” earlier in the episode). 

21) I nearly started giggling at Merlin having his last dialogue with Kilgharrah while Arthur hangs there like a sack of potatoes.

22) I gather that Percival reached the lake, spoke with Merlin, and delivered the news back to Camelot. If I recall, in many versions of the tale it is Percival who casts the sword back into the water and carries the news of Arthur’s death, so at least part of that continued here.

23) I’d already known about the Merlin-immortality element of the ending from fic, though not how it appeared. I suppose that final scene was supposed to be hopeful, but it just seemed more tragic -- Merlin waiting forever, tied to Avalon, always hoping Kilgharrah knew what he was talking about. It would have been more hopeful if, instead, Merlin heard Arthur call and realized his wait was over at last. There have been quite a few fics speculating on what a burden that long life was to Merlin, with madness the result in some.

I have mixed feelings about seeing this end. It wasn’t a good series and a lot of opportunities were missed, right up until the end. But it did have an interesting concept behind it, some beautifully staged scenes and visuals, some good bits here and there, and even a few strong episodes. I’m glad it introduced me to some new actors. I suspect Colin Morgan in particular is going to have a good career ahead of him.


End file.
